Why Do You Put People Above God? | Leah, Rachel, and Jacob

Introduction

Everything God did, He did with a plan for humans to be blessed. We were created to love, to give love, and to receive love. However, one of the great mistakes we make is coming to consider that a person is more important than God Himself. We can call this having "broken vessels of love".

When God created Eve for Adam, He told him she would be a suitable helper. But God never told Adam: "she will be your everything", nor did He tell the woman: "the man will be everything to you". No human being should be worshipped. Worship is exclusive and unique to God.

1. The trap of seeking human validation

The problem begins when we center our life on a person. We believe that without that person we cannot live, that our decisions or our emotional stability depend on whether they look at us, recognize us, or give us a word of encouragement.

This is evident when people desperately seek approval:

• The employee who becomes bitter because the boss didn't recognize their effort.
• The wife or husband who gets depressed because their partner doesn't give them the expected affection.
• The young person who bases their security on the superficial validation of society.

We live in a generation submerged in anxiety and depression precisely because they beg for human validation that can never fill the void of the soul. The only validation you truly need is God's.

2. The Story of Leah: Begging for love

The book of Genesis (chapter 29) tells us the story of Leah, Rachel, and Jacob. Jacob was deeply in love with Rachel, but was deceived by his father-in-law Laban, who married him first to Leah.

Leah represents that person desperate for love, who feels rejected and despised. Her own sister was the favorite. Seeing her affliction, God granted her children, but look at Leah's initial motivation when having her first three children:

1. Reuben: "It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."
2. Simeon: "Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too."
3. Levi: "Now at last my husband will become attached to me."

The center of Leah's life was not God; it was Jacob. Everything she did was a desperate attempt to get her husband to love and approve of her. But none of that worked. Jacob still had his eyes on Rachel.

3. The birth of Judah: When perspective changes

Begging for love and putting a person on the throne of God is a guaranteed path of pain. If your relationship or your happiness depends on what someone else does, you are falling into disguised idolatry.

But there was a moment where Leah finally understood this. When she had her fourth son, her perspective changed completely:

"This time I will praise the Lord." (Genesis 29:35)

She named her son Judah, which means praise. Leah stopped saying "I do it for my husband". She decided to let go of control and give God the place that belonged to Him. She no longer begged for human love, but decided to worship the only one who deserves all the glory.

And God honored that decision. It was not from Rachel's line, but from the tribe of Judah, that King David and, eventually, Jesus Christ came.

Conclusion

If you have someone you love, enjoy them as a blessing and a suitable helper, but never make them your center. Do not blame others for your emptiness, what you need is to look to heaven.

When God is the center of your life, your relationships change, your home is healed, and peace returns to your heart, because you no longer depend on man, you depend on the Lord.